Mantra II: The Blood of Saric
Company: Syzygy Cult
Freeware
SyzygyCult@aol.com

Mike: The original Mantra is one of my
all-time favorite shareware games for the Macintosh. An involving plot, combined with a good mix of action, adventure, and thinking, made for an engrossing game that was addictive and fun to play. As soon as I read about the sequel, which was released this past summer, I hurried to download it. I couldn’t wait to play it, to experience more of the same type of game play.

Adam: Anyone who has read this column since our review of the original Mantra knows that it is my favorite shareware game of all time, no exceptions made. So you can imagine I was just as ecstatic as Mike was when I found out that the sequel to Mantra, Mantra II: The Blood of Saric had been released. Of course, an immediate download was in order.

Mike: The game was what I expected, and at the same time it was nothing like I thought it would be. After giving Mantra II a try, I was reminded of one of John Travolta’s lines in the summer blockbuster Face/Off: “It’s like looking in a mirror, only… not.” That was my initial thought with Mantra II – it looked the same, it felt the same… but it wasn’t quite the same.

That’s not to say that Mantra II is a bad game. It’s a rather good game, and I enjoyed playing it quite a bit. Perhaps my feelings were based on a faulty memory; after all, it’s been quite awhile since I last took Saric around the land of Zarin in the original game. Maybe the game intentionally has a different feel to it; it’s not necessarily a bad thing to change a little. The most important thing, I guess, is to let Mantra II stand on its own merits, and not hold it side-by-side with its predecessor. When looked at in that light, Mantra II is a pretty enjoyable game.

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